Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 366

Episode 366: What increases when divided, work and swearing (8) After

finishing the assembly at Geunjeongjeon, the ministers flocked to the Uijeongbu conference room again.

As soon as he took his seat in the conference room, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Development Jeong Yeok let out a long sigh.

“Whoa~. “His Majesty the Lord emphasizes that it is a period of stagnation, but is it really a period of stagnation?”

* * *

As we neared the end of the war, Joseon’s development began to slow down. Therefore, there was a feeling of stagnation as the priorities of policies implemented by most ministries were adjusted, but only the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Development did not have a single such policy.

In fact, King Sejong went so far as to make this request.

“The transportation network maintenance project currently underway is important work that will determine the future of Joseon, so please do your best to avoid any delays.”

Jeongyeok had no choice but to bow his head in response to King Sejong’s request.

“I will keep this in mind.”

* * *

In response to Jeong-yeok’s complaint, Jo Gye-saeng screamed.

“Still, the commander-in-chief does not maintain the status quo! “I’m not maintaining the status quo; I’m increasing the workload!”

“Ah…”

“I know that Hunminjeongeum is useful, but you’re preparing to teach it right away starting next year… What is this…” “

But you’ve been watching it for a year, haven’t you? If it had been any other time, he would have told you to do it right away. “Isn’t His Majesty the Lord also taking this into consideration?”

At Kim Jeom’s blunt words, a twinkle in Jo Gye-saeng’s eyes appeared.

“No, this guy really!”

“joy! It’s going to be work, I’m going to die from work, but it’s true. “Would you like to take charge of the Ministry of Finance and Economy instead of me?”

At Kim Jeom’s words, the twinkle in Jo Gye-saeng’s eyes subsided.

In the process of adjusting policy priorities, King Sejong did not once mention the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

“Your Highness, shouldn’t our Ministry of Finance and Economy also need to adjust the priorities of some policies?”

Kim Jeom, who was worse off, came forward, but King Sejong resolutely refused.

“The Ministry of Finance and Economy is the ministry that manages the country’s finances and is in charge of the people’s affairs. Where is the precedence and gravity in such important matters? Rather, it would be right to search and review it in advance before the people’s petition is made.”

Sejong’s orders were simple.

‘Work even if you have to find it.’

“I will do my best.”

Rather, it was Kim Jeom who took over the homework and stepped down.

Lee Jik, who was watching Jo Gye-saeng at Kimjeom Jeong Station so angry, looked back at Maeng Sa-seong.

“I’ll pay for your drinks today.”

Hearing Lee Jik’s words, Maeng Sa-seong muttered softly with a white face.

“Great! “Have you forgotten what happened last time?”

“You should leave as quietly as possible.”

* * *

After the grumbling of the three ministers subsided to some extent, the ministers talked again.

“His Majesty the Lord said that it was a period of stagnation, but it is questionable whether it is really a period of stagnation.”

When Jeong Yeok questioned again, Maeng Sa-seong responded.

“If you look at it from the outside, it looks like it’s stagnating, right? “New policies were created and implemented every day, but for now, such cases have started to decrease.”

“Keuung…”

When Jeong-yeok groaned in response to Maeng Sa-seong’s answer, Heo Jo continued.

“To be precise, it would be more appropriate to say a period of maintenance rather than a period of stagnation.”

The ministers nodded to Heo Jo’s point.

As Heo Jo said, the current situation is closer to a period of maintenance rather than a period of stagnation.

And the biggest reason for this maintenance period was the explosive increase in population.

The population, which had decreased significantly during the period of turmoil that lasted from the end of the Joseon Dynasty to the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty, increased explosively as the restoration of the Joseon Dynasty progressed.

Although Joseon’s government organization had continued to expand in size, it was certain that it would be difficult to operate properly if the population increased at the current rate.

That is why both King Sejong and his ministers chose to take a moment to catch their breath.

* * *

Jeongyeok, who had nodded to Heo Jo’s answer, asked again.

“Then how long do you think this stagnation will last? “I’m expecting at least 10 years.”

In response to Jeong Yeok’s remarks, the ministers weighed this and that. After considering it for a while, Heo Jo opened his mouth.

“As short as 5 years, as long as 10 years?”

“That would be the most likely.”

“That’s right.”

Jeongyeok sighed at the ministers’ remarks.

“Whoa~. “It’s been 5 years… As expected, the Han River Bridge will determine everything.”

The ministers all nodded at Jeong Yeok’s words.

* * *

Everyone agreed that the last step in the road was the land transportation network, which was currently being developed. And the highlight of the land transportation network development was the bridge to be built over the Hansui.

With the recent reorganization of the transportation network, bridges were built across large and small rivers and streams throughout Joseon. The process of building a bridge using reinforced concrete was a new challenge.

Therefore, the company in charge of construction accumulated experience step by step, starting with small rivers. And all the trials and errors that occurred in the process were made into documents and delivered to the research institute and Area 51. Through this process, construction technology was becoming more and more advanced, and new and improved technologies were immediately applied to new sites.

Through that process, the later the bridge was built, the wider the gap between the piers became, and the more sturdily it was built.

And at the end of that chain reaction, since the year before last, bridges have been built across other large rivers except the Hansu.

The bridges built in this way had a great feature: on large rivers that were the core of transportation, two bridges were built at the same time.

One was a bridge where people and ox carts could travel, and the other was a bridge where iron horses could travel.

“In the future, the core of Joseon’s land transportation will be iron horses!”

In accordance with King Sejong’s decision to agree to Hyang’s claim, improvement work on Cheolma continued. Thanks to this, larger and more powerful iron horses were being researched in Area 51.

And according to King Sejong’s decision to monitor the progress, the construction of a bridge for the iron horse to travel was carried out first.

“It will be too late to build a bridge after a usable iron horse is completed! “We must build in advance!”

Jeongyeok immediately opposed King Sejong’s instructions.

“Building a bridge is not difficult. The difficult thing is to design a bridge that is strong enough. Now the iron horse is getting bigger and heavier. “We are not expecting that part, so building it in advance could be a waste.”

“You are right.”

In the end, the homework on this was handed over to the research institute and Area 51. After putting their heads together and calculating, including the Hyang and the New Year’s Chosun Jeong In-ji and Lee Sun-ji, the conclusion reached was as follows.

-First of all, 12,000 pipes (approximately 45 tons) can be used commercially. However, it will ultimately increase to 24,000 tubes (about 90 tons). (Note 1)

However, this figure only considers iron horses. If coal and water are loaded here, the capacity will increase to 37,900 pipes (about 140 tons).

“You only calculated the iron horse? So what if we connect passenger cars or freight cars?”

“At least twice as much.”

At Hyang’s answer, Jeong-yeok’s face, who was listening next to him, turned pale.

Seeing Jeong Yeok’s face like that, Sejong gave an order to Hyang.

“Design the bridge based on the final expected result.”

“I follow your orders.”

In this way, the design of the railroad piers to be built on the four major rivers was completed.

And at the end of the series of challenges, calculation formulas for the design of bridges to be built in one place – which excited Kim Dam and Western scholars – were created.

Because it was a tremendous symbol of connecting Joseon’s capital Hanseong with other regions, those in charge of designing the bridge over Hansu put great effort into it.

And according to the design thus created, construction was scheduled to begin from this dry season.

As a side note, since it was a bridge built through this process, it should have been a turning point for the designers, but the parties involved were full of dissatisfaction.

“Ah-oh! “We could have reduced the number of piers!”

By order of the township that received the draft, the spacing between piers had to be further reduced and the number of piers had to be increased.

“I know you put a lot of effort into it, but let’s reduce the distance between the piers here and increase the number of piers. “A little safer.”

“The current design is sufficient to ensure safety.”

“I guess so. But isn’t it a bridge that can be built in one hand? “Let’s be a little safer.”

* * *

“It lasts from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 10 years…. If you also think about the cases where those who have learned Hunminjeongeum are put into practical work, the workload will increase tremendously.”

Hearing Jeong Yeok’s words, the other ministers looked at Jeong Yeok with strange expressions.

“Why are you doing this?”

Heojo asked back Jeongyeok’s question.

“Do you plan to live and work until then? Hehe~. “I guess I’ll have to work hard to get you some medicine.”

“Ah…”

Jeong-yeok, who let out a small exclamation at Heo Jo’s words, muttered with an expression of mixed emotions.

“I guess we’re already this old.”

Most of the ministers currently in the conference room had been active in politics since the end of the Goryeo Dynasty.

Now, more than 30 years have passed since the founding of Joseon, and they have reached an age where it would not be strange for them to hold a funeral tomorrow.

Maeng Sa-seong also received the words with a similar expression.

“What we need to do is use this stagnant period to prepare for the future. The next generation will take care of the rest. “What’s unfortunate is that we’re all old and worn out, and it’s certain that we won’t be able to see the results properly.”

The ministers nodded quietly.

* * *

In this way, a period later called the ‘stagnation period’ was born.

Scholars studying the history of Joseon evaluated this period as follows.

‘Beginner historians may simply say it is a period of stagnation, but proper historians are frustrated when they see this period of stagnation.’

After confirming the explosive population growth, which was evaluated as ‘the world’s first officially recorded baby boom’, the Joseon government began a major overhaul. This was an effort to minimize the shock of the baby boomer generation when they entered society as adults.

Therefore, on the surface, the period of stagnation was a quiet period. This was even more so compared to the period before and after the stagnation period, which was full of all kinds of new policies and incidents.

However, scholars who studied this period of stagnation resolutely denied such ideas.

They were convinced that this period of stagnation was the most important period that influenced the period of great leap forward.

Thanks to this, there were scholars who dedicated their lives to researching just this ‘stagnation period’.

And there were no scholars who denied that the most important event during this period of stagnation was the creation and dissemination of Hunminjeongeum.

As the first generation, breaking away from the Chinese character culture and familiar with Hunminjeongeum, was released into society, the dynamics of the three countries in Northeast Asia began to fluctuate significantly.

No, the creation and dissemination of Hunminjeongeum was a huge event that shook even Western countries due to the butterfly effect brought about by changes in Northeast Asia.

Thanks to this, scholars studying Joseon during this period had to look at not only the Ming and Japanese countries, but also European history, and the intensity of labor was beyond imagination.

Thanks to this, the following joke arose among historians:

“Recommend the ugly guy to study Joseon history after the period of stagnation.”

* * *

Note 1) Based on the 900th steam locomotive of the Republic of Korea Theft Office.

https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea Railroad Administration Unit 900 Steam Locomotive